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HAVE A FUN NIGHT OUT AND AVOID A HANGOVER

Just a few simple precautionary measures can help you avoid the discomfort caused by a hangover.

In the heat of the moment, that extra cocktail seemed like a harmless enough idea.   But the next day, you are stuck with a painful headache and feeling like you were hit by a truck.   Since abstaining isn't an option for most of us who like to have some fun, the best option is to take some precautionary steps to prevent a hangover.

In order to understand how to prevent a hangover, it helps to know how alcohol affects your internal system.   Alcohol creates many challenges for the body.   First, it causes dehydration, so you start to lose water that is critically necessary for a healthy body. Alcohol also stresses your liver, making it less able to produce g lucose (or sugar), which is the fuel that drives every cell in your body. Brain cells are particularly susceptible to a shortage of this fuel.   Alcohol also affects the chemicals that cells in your body utilize to communicate with each other. One of these chemicals is called prostaglandin and it regulates the way you feel pain.   Finally, alcohol has an inflammatory effect, making your blood vessels swell. This is why some people don't have to wait until morning for their headache.

To help avoid a hangover, eat a greasy meal before drinking.   Greasy foods coat the stomach and slow the absorption of alcohol. And most greasy foods are full of carbohydrates, which turn into sugar in your body. That gives you an extra supply of the glucose that alcohol causes you to lose.

When drinking alcohol sip beverages slowly instead of guzzling them.   Give your body time to process the alcohol. Between drinks, have at least one big glass of a nonalcoholic beverage.   Water is excellent option.    Fruit juices, such as tomato juice and cranberry juice, help your body replace the glucose it has lost due to alcohol. Soft drinks may also help in this way -- and the caffeine in some of these drinks may help counteract the swelling of small blood vessels caused by alcohol.    However, caffeine is a diuretic and causes your body to lose water, so be sure to increase your water intake as well.

Utilizing this approach should allow you to have a good time without the miserable side effects the next day.   In case you fail to follow these helpful hints, click on this article for a few ideas on dealing with your hangover the next day.